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What Most Clients Don’t Know But Won’t Ask

Just like those times in class when everyone has the same question on their mind but no one raises their hand to ask, your clients likely have questions that they are embarrassed or uncertain about asking. If you can think like your clients so they don’t have to raise their hand to ask, you’ll build a relationship of trust that will certainly last!

“What do you mean by ‘organic’ search?”

As internet marketers, there are many terms that seem obvious to us. However, think back to before you entered the industry – did you call search results ‘organic’? It’s a simple concept once explained, but it’s not a concept that is even considered by those not in the internet marketing industry. Most clients won’t ask this question for fear of sounding dumb.

“Why do we need Google Analytics?”

GA is the bread and butter of all internet marketing analysis and, frankly, I don’t know what I’d do without it. Many clients have not heard of this tool before and even if they have, they don’t know the information and potential it holds for their website. If you’re comfortable with it, start up a join.me session and walk your clients through a few simple metrics in their analytics. They’ll be extremely impressed and excited to learn about what’s happening on their website!

“Where’s the title and meta description?”

Creating optimized titles and metas is always one of the first steps of on-page optimization. Once you use the term “on-page” clients will expect to see these optimized items actually on their pages. Not many realize that they have a way to control the text that shows up in the tab of their browsers or the info that search engines pull into search results. Highlighted screenshots are a great way to show clients exactly where these titles and metas show up.

“Why do I need link building?”

Concepts like domain power and authority, and back links are almost always brand new to clients. Because of this, they often do not know why they would want more links pointing toward their site, particularly if these links come from other sites that are not within the same topic or industry as their own site. Using the voting analogy where a link to a site is like a vote for that site breaks down the nebulous concept into a very tangible theory.

“What does this report tell me?”

Like Google Analytics, we see our own reporting tools every day and know all their ins and outs. Just because you pull a report that looks great and send it with an excited message doesn’t mean your client understands it. They may not even realize the positive aspects of the report. The first time you ever create a report for a client, hop on the phone to walk them through it. Point out what each section means, what you’re aiming to achieve in each section and what indicates improvement for areas of their campaign.

“You do more than SEO???”

As you gain your clients’ trust and take on more of a consulting role, your clients will look to you for advice to further improve their bottom line. Not all clients will ask for this advice, but if you see something about their website or online presence that could improve, trust me, they want you to tell them! When you do make suggestions to increase their social media presence or redesign pages of their site for better conversions, they won’t always know that you and your company can help them with these services too! Let them know all that you do and can do for them before they take your advice as suggestions to go find another company who does those items.

No matter what industry you’re in, you always know more about your own industry than your clients do. You’ll find clients who want “internet marketing” because they’ve heard they should have it or simply because it’s the latest buzzword. Never assume that they did all their research before determining they want your service and always try to remember to consider what they’re thinking!